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Assignment 2- Self-Awareness
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In the modern healthcare practices communication is one of the most important aspects that,
though it is one area which not given much focus by the health care workers. It is generally the
self-awareness exercises that can be used by the healthcare workers to improve their skills in
communicating with their patients and also make the healthcare delivery effective. There are
many ways in which the self-awareness could be used by the when communicating with the
person receiving care in a health setting. In the health and the social care context the
communication process is a two way phenomena. Proper communication helps to perform
interaction with the other people and build a healthy relationship. The skills of communication
comprise of the following attributes: listening, questioning, paraphrasing, reflecting, explanation,
summarizing, consultation and mentoring (Cheng, Govorun and Chartrand, 2012). Good
listening skills involve hearing what is the opinion of the other person so that it is possible to get
a better a understanding of his situation and better care is provided to the patient. It also helps to
reduce the errors and the time required in the provision of the services.

There are plenty of research studies which has been conducted that points out that
communication is one of the important aspect for providing services in the health care setting.
Self awareness generally comprise of reducing the existing difference between a perception of a
person regarding himself and the perception of the others. This is generally achievable by
focusing on the manner in which the people are knowledgeable regarding themselves with
respect to others and their own self concepts. Thus, to know our self it is important that we
understand our way of looking at the other and how others look at us. The initiative to become
self-aware must come from an individual working in the health care setting. An individual
should be himself willing to improve the communication skills and develop a better
understanding regarding himself or herself about the different traits that makes up the complete
individual (Courtney, 2008). Though becoming aware of certain aspects about our self can be
quite painful and in certain cases it might be difficult to accept what we came to know about our
self. But still by identifying our weaknesses and working on to improve them will lead to the
development of a positive self-concept which will in turn help to improve our self-esteem and
thus this will help the health care professional to develop the same qualities among the patients.
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It can be said that the process of the self-awareness is a continuous process. The method of self-
awareness ranges from getting involved in self-initiated activities, like that of the reflective
processes through healthcare education and through the processes like those of mentoring,
clinical supervision and reviewing of individual performance (Psychology Today, 2017). The
self-awareness excercies could be either carried out by a person himself/herself or these activities
could be practiced in a group. For example either a healthcare profession can learn from the
reflection activities by asking questions and writing down the incidents or to talk about an issue
or a situation with a colleague.

In the healthcare profession self-awareness is very much important for success, professional
growth and the quality of the care that is provided to the client. As the healthcare professionals
has to remain with the patients to care of them all the time, thus it becomes important that they
should first know about themselves before helping their patients. In case of the health care
profession the self-awareness process needs a proper rational approach and reflection. It is
important that the health care professionals are aware regarding their own needs and about the
manner in which the manner in which they influence others which is very much important so that
they are able to communicate with the patients in an effective manner (Psychology Today, 2017).
In the literature there are several ways in which could be utilized by the health care professionals
to become self-aware. For example the health care professionals could ask for feedback about
their work from a genuine person, reflecting about one’s own actions, writing journal about their
daily work, talking regularly to mentors and friends and also practicing mindfulness and
meditation (Psychology Today, 2017). Review of the literature also suggests several other
techniques that can be utilized by the healthcare professionals for better understanding
themselves, like that of having a reflective diary, learning about the body language and utilizing
the different models of reflection. As discussed earlier the process of self-awareness is a
continuous process which requires continuous self-evaluation and also requires conscious effort.
It is important that for developing self-awareness the health care professionals reflect upon their
experiences and appreciate the positive factors and learn from the weaknesses. Through
reflection it is possible to look back and also analyze the practices which could be utilized for
further development (Psychology Today, 2017). The psychodrama techniques could be utilized
by the health care professionals to either develop or improve the self-awareness in the case of the
health care settings.
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It can be said that in case of effective communication in an health care setting it is important to
listen properly which adds to the fundamental of the overall wellbeing and the also helps to
establish better relations with the patients. Also it can be said that through self-awareness
practices it is possible to develop one’s listening skills which can become a catalyst for change.
But mastering the effective listening is one of the most important tasks and it requires a
disciplined approach. In the health care setting there can be many instances where there might be
a conflicting situation which is mainly due to the inability of the patient and the health care
professionals to understand one another. In such scenarios it is the responsibility of the health
care professionals to bond with their patients, reframe their problems and try to explore the
possible solutions (Rungapadiachy, Morris and Howarth, 2008). Once the conditions are set for
effective communication thus problem solving start automatically and it is possible to develop
such conditions by listening deeply. In the health care setting it could be seen that many times
patients gets frustrated and in these times it is important that the health care professionals hear
them out patiently. The process of communication is just not related to the language and speech.
With the increase in the stage of the dementia the non-verbal communication plays a very crucial
role. The non-verbal communication comprise of hand gestures, body language, facial
expressions, eye contact, touch and actions. In case of the people who suffers from dementia
they tend to get frustrated when they have problems in communicating their thoughts or when
they could not find out the word to express themselves. Thus, they can use the non-verbal
communication to connect with each other. It is very important to have effective communication
in case of the health and the social care setting. The effective communications help to develop
positive relation between the service user and the service provider which is important to give
personalized care. In the context of the health and the social care it is important to gain the trust,
respect and confidence in the service provider, so that positive relationship can be developed.
Among the different reasons that play a significant role in the communication process in the
health and the social care, the cultural values plays a very important role (Rungapadiachy, Morris
and Howarth, 2008). When health care listen to the patient’s queries and demands deeply an
sincerely, it allows the patients to express themselves in a proper manner and will help them to
relieve them from their frustration. It can be said that to become good listener it is important first
to become self-aware and establish proper communication with one self. Thus to become good
listener it is important that the person should become self aware so that he is able to identify the
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different filters which add color to their communication style. It has been found in the literature
that the quality of the listening is generally influenced by the previous experiences, beliefs,
values, assumptions, judgments and the individual bias (Ünal, 2012). If we hear something that is
contrary to our values and interest we tend to become defensive, thus it can be said that the
ability of the health care professionals to become effective listeners is generally affected by their
own filters. This negatively affects the capacity of the health care professionals to develop
meaningful relations with the people whom we love and our ability to lead so that we are able to
become a catalyst change in order to make a positive contribution in the health care setting. In
order to communicate properly in an health care setting it is first important to become aware of
the different barriers that impedes the effective communication especially those barriers that lie
within the health care professionals. This can be achieved through self-awareness. It is through
the self-awareness practices that an individual is able to listen free of assumptions and the
judgments which compromise the healthy communications. Through the self-awareness practices
it is possible to understand the other’s frame of reference. Further listening deeply is a
transformative process but it is only through the self-awareness that the transformation actually
begins. Putting people first is also an important aspect of communicating in the health and the
social care settings (Ünal, 2012). By putting people first, the health and social care providers
should first listen patiently to the demands and the requirements of the service users and give
preference to their demands in the services. Through this way the service providers will be able
to provide personalized care to the service users. This helps to make a positive contribution
towards the wellbeing and recovery of a patient.

In the health care literature, the self awareness is considered as an important and essential aspect
that is associated with the health care professionals. This process has the ability to lead to
competency in the provision of the high standards of health care top the patients. With the help
fo the self-awareness process it is possible to develop the interpersonal relationship with the
patients which helps the patients during their recovery process by providing them therapeutic
environment (Courtney, 2008). The self-awareness process also helps the health care
professionals in getting resilient in their conversation with the patients. It has been found that
there are certain people who have the proper understanding about their emotions and feeling
where as in some other people it requires a very conscious effort to develop self-awareness.
Thus it is very much crucial that a person is able to listen to the inner dialogue so that the health
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care professional is able to be more self-aware about the needs and the behaviors. This will help
them to identify the unhealthy behavior and justify the behaviors which will help them to change
the behavior into the healthy ones.

Through the development of the self-awareness it will be possible for the healthcare
professionals to understand both the verbal and the non-verbal gestures of the patients. This
helps them to react and manage the different situations instead of avoiding those situations. This
helps to forge the therapeutic alliance between the health care professionals which leads to the
development of the healthy therapeutic relationship (Psychology Today, 2017). In the critical
care the therapeutic communication is very much important along with the critical skills. The
importance of the therapeutic communication could be gauged from the fact that this process
helps the healthcare professionals in caring for them. This approach is used by the health care
professionals to interact with the clients to provide them the therapeutic environment which leads
to caring and healing.

In the modern health care practice the communication is one of the key factors in the providing
effective healthcare to the patients. It is through the self-awareness process that the
communication process could be improved which will ultimately help in the delivery of the
health care. Through the self-awareness process it will be possible for the health care
professionals to direct the communication towards the needs of the patient which will help to
establish a therapeutic environment. The self-awareness is important for communication in the
health care setting because it helps them to understand their own attitude, behavior and values as
they always interact with patients who are unique in nature and might have different
characteristic features (Rungapadiachy, Morris and Howarth, 2008). Thus the health care
professionals will only be able to provide the holistic care is they are able to understand the
similarities and differences among the different individuals. s the healthcare professionals deal
with the people thus they should be self-aware about what their motives are and the manner in
which their emotions and reactions could affect others. Through the self-awareness process the
health care professionals are able to examine their own feelings and value propostions so that the
biases and prejudices are not projected on others and this will not let the development of the
situation where the health care professionals rejects those who do not share the same values.
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Thus the health care professionals could use the self-awareness as a tool they will be able to get
knowledge regarding their personal response patterns, their strengths and limitations.

Thus, it can be concluded that the Self-awareness could be better described as a therapeutic tool
for relationship between the patient and the health care professional. The more the health care
professionals are self aware, it help more to enhance the therapeutic environment for caring. Also
self-awareness helps in the personal success and management. From the review of the different
literature it has been found that the self-awareness is the most vital concept. Thus it is important
that the curriculum for health care professionals should be able include certain aspects of
development. Thus, to know our self it is important that we understand our way of looking at the
other and how others look at us. The initiative to become self-aware must come from an
individual working in the health care setting. An individual should be himself willing to improve
the communication skills and develop a better understanding regarding himself or herself about
the different traits that makes up the complete individual. It is through the self-awareness
practices that an individual is able to listen free of assumptions and the judgments which
compromise the healthy communications. Through the self-awareness practices it is possible to
understand the other’s frame of reference. Further listening deeply is a transformative process
but it is only through the self-awareness that the transformation actually begins. Knowing about
one self is not easy, it is painful and a time consuming task and this process generally starts
through the conscious awareness and the striving for change in a continuous manner. There is no
doubt that the self-awareness is one of the most important in the relationship between the patient
and health care professionals (Ünal, 2012).
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References

Cheng, C., Govorun, O. and Chartrand, T. (2012). Effect of Self-awareness on Negative Affect
Among Individuals with Discrepant Low Self-esteem. Self and Identity, 11(3), pp.304-316.

Courtney, H. (2008). Self Awareness in Health CareSelf Awareness in Health Care. Nursing
Standard, 22(38), pp.30-30.

Psychology Today. (2017). How Self-Awareness Leads to Effective Communication. [online]

Available at: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/turning-point/201404/how-self-awareness-
leads-effective-communication [Accessed 21 Apr. 2017].

Rungapadiachy, D., Morris, J. and Howarth, S. (2008). Self awareness in health care. 1st ed.
Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Ünal, S. (2012). Evaluating the effect of self-awareness and communication techniques on

nurses' assertiveness and self-esteem. Contemporary Nurse, pp.1839-1862.